Several approaches have been taken in providing fastening systems for automobile assist straps having escutcheon member-fastener combinations at the ends of the assist strap and covers for concealing the fasteners from view. However, prior known devices possess certain manufacturing and assembly disadvantages. Some of these devices include covers which are permanently attached to an escutcheon by an adhesive. This creates the disadvantage of having covers which cannot be readily removed to permit access to the fasteners for servicing the assist strap. Indeed, removal of such adhesively-attached covers can be tedious and time consuming, and usually results in partial or complete destruction of the cover.
While other devices have provided easily removable covers, such devices permit undesired tampering. More specifically, such covers can be readily removed by children or other passengers of such vehicles, resulting in exposed fastener assemblies. Since the purpose and function of such assist straps requires that they be placed in well exposed and highly accessible areas of the vehicle, these devices invite tampering by small children. Moreover, covers which are readily removable have a tendency to become lost, resulting in the expenditure of time and money by the vehicle owner to secure replacement thereof. Additionally, the fastener-cover systems of these prior devices ordinarily use multiple components which are separately manufactured and then assembled. This results in the disadvantage of requiring relatively costly manufacturing and assembly techniques. Since up to nine such straps have been used in an automobile, these costs are multiplied accordingly for each vehicle.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a fastening system for automobile assist straps wherein the cover which cooperates with each end of the assist strap is removable therefrom to provide access to the fastening means for servicing the assist strap, but which is removable only by utilizing a particular removal method in order to reduce undesired tampering, as well as exposed and lost parts. It is also desirable to obtain these advantages while reducing manufacturing and assembly steps, as well as the costs associated therewith.
The automobile assist strap fastening system according to the present invention includes a generally flat metal strap member having formed ends to provide elongated generally U-shaped channels for attachment to a surface of the vehicle by way of fasteners disposed within the channels. The fastening system includes covers which are slidingly engageable with the channels and movable into operative positions where they cooperate with each channel to conceal the fasteners from view during normal use of the assist strap. Movement of each cover into its operative position will effect insertion of a locking portion disposed on one of either the cover or the channel into an opening or recess in the other of either the cover or the channel and create a locking engagement between the locking portion and the opening or recess so that the cover is retained in its operative position during normal use. However, the locking portion can be disengaged and withdrawn from the opening or recess upon the application of a predetermined force in a particular direction to enable the cover portion to be slidingly moved along the channel and removed therefrom to permit access to the fasteners for servicing the strap member.
The strap member of the invention is a structural strength-imparting member which establishes the configuration of the assist strap. The formed ends of the strap member provide an area for direct attachment to a vehicle surface and are configured to removably retain the covers. These formed ends can be simply and inexpensively formed along with the strap member by a stamping operation. The locking portion and the opening or recess on either the cover or the channel can also be provided during the forming of these portions. The invention therefore provides an assist strap system having the advantage of requiring the manufacture and assembly of fewer parts, and therefore results in an attendant lowering of manufacturing and assembly costs. The system provides an assist strap having good appearance, as well as one which allows a non-destructive removal of the covers to permit servicing of the assist strap. The invention also achieves a simple and inexpensive way of providing a cover which cooperates directly with the ends of the strap member and which can be locked in its operative position during normal use to reduce the possibility of tampering and exposed and lost parts, yet which can be removed for servicing the assist strap only upon discovering and following a particular method for loosening the covers.
The above and other features of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the detailed description of the preferred embodiments which makes reference to the following set of drawings.